Still On Top - The Greatest Hits

范．莫里森原名乔治．伊凡．莫里森（George Ivan Morrison）,1945年8月31日出生于北爱尔兰的贝尔法斯特,她的母亲曾是一名爵士歌手。受家庭影响，他很小就对布鲁斯和爵士乐有浓厚的兴趣， 15岁那年他就离开了学校去玩音乐了。他于1963年组织了“他们（Them）乐队，出版了两张专辑《他们》和《还是他们》（Them Again），其中有几首单曲《亲爱的不要离开》（Baby Please Don’t Go）、《夜晚来临》（Here Comes the Night）、《格洛丽亚》（Gloria）和《神密的眼睛》（Mystic Eyes）。在全美巡演后，莫里森对美国的音乐商业感到失望，于是又回到爱尔兰。后来，制作人伯特．伯恩斯（BERT BERNS）邀请他重返美国为伯恩斯新成立的公司录制唱片，莫里森答应了。他的第1张单曲《棕色眼睛的姑娘》（Brown Eyed Girl）于1967年进入了美国排行榜前10名。他的头两张个人专辑都是在此时期发表的，中包括经典之作《让你心醉神迷》（Blowin’Your Mind,1968）。而后他推出了专辑《星际星期》（Astral Weeks）。莫里森在1970年推出《月宫舞》（Moondance）。1973年，他得在一支10人乐团“苏格兰灵歌管弦乐团”的陪同下，开始了他的首次大规模欧洲和北美洲巡演。《维登．费利斯》专辑问世后，他暂别摇滚舞台。 1977年复出。录制了唱片《转变时期》（A Period Transition）；1978年又录制了《波长》（Wavelength）； 1979年推出了《走入音乐》（Into the Music）； 1980年专辑《普通一员》（Common One）发表；专辑《美景》（Beautiful Vision）于1982年出版；《无法诉说的衷情》（Inarticulate Speech of the Heart）于1983推出；1984年《贝尔法斯特大歌剧院现场》（Live at the Grand Opera House, Belfast）发行；《奇念》（A Sense of Wonder）于1985年面世。在80年代的音乐中，莫里森追求的是纯精神主题，具有乡村流漫主义情调。这些音乐充分体现了莫里森致力于对音乐本身内涵的挖掘，把它作为“一种治疗的力量……一种药物”来加以阐述。《现在为时已晚》（It’s Too Late Stop Now, 1974）则收有他鼎盛时期的现场演出。 1988年，他与“酋长”（The Chieftains）乐队录制了一张爱尔兰传统音乐专辑《爱尔兰人的心跳》（Irish Heartbeat）；1990年，出版了《范·莫里森精选辑》（The Best of Van Morrison）。此后莫里森几乎每年都要出版一张专辑。1995年，他出版了《像这样的日子》（Days like this），这是他第22张专辑，内容大都是他28年来的首次出版的作品。同年年底，他录制出版了一张爵士乐专辑《这还要持续多久？》（How Long Has This Been going on?）。1年后，他录制了一张向爵士钢琴家本·协兰（Ben Sidran）和阿利森（Allison）致敬的专辑《莫里·阿利森之歌：告诉我点什么》（Songs of Mose Allison: Tell Me Something）。1997年初，他出版了专辑《治疗的游戏》（The Healing Game）。 George Ivan Morrison OBE (generally known as Van Morrison) (born August 31, 1945) is a singer-songwriter from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He plays a variety of instruments, including the guitar, harmonica, keyboards, drums, and saxophone. Featuring his characteristic growl — a unique mix of throaty folk, blues, Irish, scat, and Celtic influences — Morrison is widely considered one of the most unusual and influential vocalists in the history of rock and roll. Famed critic Greil Marcus has gone so far as to say that "no white man sings like Van Morrison." Known as "Van the Man" by his fans, Morrison first rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Northern Irish band, Them, penning their seminal 1964 hit "Gloria". A few years later, Morrison left the band for a successful solo career. Morrison has pursued an idiosyncratic musical path. Much of his music is tightly structured around the conventions of American soul and R&B, such as the popular singles "Brown Eyed Girl", "Moondance", "Domino" and "Wild Night". An equal part of his catalogue consists of lengthy, loosely connected, spiritually inspired musical journeys that show the influence of Celtic tradition, jazz, and stream-of-consciousness narrative, such as his classic album Astral Weeks and lesser known works such as Veedon Fleece and Common One. The two strains together are sometimes referred to as "Celtic Soul". Morrison's career, spanning some four decades, has influenced many popular musical artists. In 1993 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2000, Morrison ranked number 25 on American cable music channel VH1's list of its 100 greatest artists of rock and roll, and in 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Van Morrison [1] #42 on their list of The Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[2]. He currently lives in Killiney in South Dublin, Ireland.